As capacity of agricultural harvesters increases, the added size and weight of the machines require larger tires and wheels. Maintaining an acceptable harvester turn radius, particularly with oscillating steerable rear axles having large capacity wheels, is a continuing source of difficulty.
On harvesters such as cotton pickers, the ability to provide either a conventional cotton basket or a special cotton processing system such as a cotton baler would be very advantageous. However, most presently available frame systems fail to easily accommodate such a conversion. Also, providing convenient access to components such as the engine, tanks, cab, and crop handling systems on the large capacity machines is complicated by the size of the required components. Although transversely mounted power systems such as shown in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,499,491 and 6,901,732 have alleviated some of the problems, clearance at the front and rear of the of the power system support frame is limited and makes access to the sides of the of the engine relatively difficult.